More on verbs: auxiliary VPs

1. INSTRUCTOR: LE NGUYEN NHU ANH
LINGUISTICS 2
M1 LESSON 2.2
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2. 2.2 AUXILIARY VPs
• Contents:
– Part I: Lexical and auxiliary verbs
• Tense and time
• The contrast between lexical and auxiliary verbs
• Modal auxiliaries (MOD)
• The perfect auxiliary – have (PERF)
• The progressive auxiliary – be (PROG)
• The passive auxiliary – be (PASS)
• Where auxiliaries fit in the structure of VP
• Auxiliary VPs and adverbials

3. 2.2 AUXILIARY VPs
• Contents:
– Part II: Constructions that depend on auxiliaries
• Passive sentences
• Negative sentences and auxiliary do
• Questions — fronting the tensed auxiliary

4. 2.2 AUXILIARY VPs
• Every full (non-elliptical) VP includes a
lexical verb and it may contain one or more
auxiliary verbs.
– Be, have, do: PRIMARY AUXILIARIES
– Can/could, will/would, shall /should, may/might,
must, and need: MODAL AUXILIARIES

5. 2.2 AUXILIARY VPs
• Basic principles:
– A) it is always just the first verb – whether
lexical or auxiliary – that displays the tense
distinction between PRESENT and PAST;
– B) auxiliary verbs (if present) always PRECEDE
the lexical verb;
– C) the form of a verb is determined by the verb
that precedes it.

6. 2.2 AUXILIARY VPs
• Tense and Time
– Verb forms that are TENSED are traditionally
called FINITE verb forms.
– All other verb forms are NON-FINITE (not
tensed).
– Every sentence must contain a finite verb.
– In the absence of any auxiliary, it is the lexical
verb that is tensed (finite).

7. 2.2 AUXILIARY VPs
• Tense and Time
– English has just TWO tenses: Present and Past.
– Future time is expressible in a variety of ways
but there is no future tense.
– There is no simple correlation between the
grammatical category TENSE and the notion of
TIME.
[10] The boat leaves at ten tonight. (Present tense –
future time)
[11] If he gave me the bleach tomorrow, I’d use it.
(Past tense – future time)

8. 2.2 AUXILIARY VPs
• The contrast between lexical and auxiliary
verbs
– In QUESTIONS, auxiliary verbs can move in front
of the subject NP. A lexical verb cannot.
– The NEGATIVE PARTICLE (not or n’t) can attach to
an auxiliary verb but never to a lexical verb.
– Auxiliary verbs never take an NP complement.
– When a verb follows a lexical verb, it can be
introduced by THE INFINITIVE PARTICLE to but
not when it follows an auxiliary verb.
He needs to go.

9. 2.2 AUXILIARY VPs
• Modal auxiliaries (MOD)
– MODALS are always tensed (finite). They do not have
untensed (non-finite) forms. => always come FIRST in any
sequence of verbs.
PRESENT: can, will, shall, may
PAST: could, would, should, might
* must and need don’t have a past tense form.
– MODALS never show subject-verb agreement.
– In a sequence of verbs, there can be only one modal verb

10. 2.2 AUXILIARY VPs
• The perfect auxiliary — have (PERF)
– Auxiliary have is described as the ‘perfect’ auxiliary.
Perfect have is always followed by another verb (ellipsis
aside)
– Have provides a way of referring to past TIME
independently of past TENSE.
– The verb that follows perfect have always appears in its
(non-finite) PERFECT PARTICIPLE FORM.
– PARTICIPLE FORMS are non-finite.
– MOD before PERF before Lexical V.

11. 2.2 AUXILIARY VPs
• The progressive auxiliary — be (PROG)
– Progressive be demands that the following verb has the
(non finite) -ING form => the PROGRESSIVE PARTICIPLE
– PROG can co-occur with MOD, with PERF and with both
MOD and PERF:
[38] You may be wondering about the future. (MOD+PROG)
[39] Millie has been using the bleach. (PERF+PROG)
[40] Bill might have been teasing you. (MOD+PERF+PROG)
– MOD before PERF before PROG before Lexical V.

12. 2.2 AUXILIARY VPs
• The passive auxiliary — be (PASS)
– Sentences that include the passive auxiliary verb be are
said to be in the PASSIVE VOICE.
– Following passive be, a verb adopts the PASSIVE
PARTICIPLE FORM

13. 2.2 AUXILIARY VPs
• The passive auxiliary — be (PASS)
– PASS can co-occur with any combination of other
auxiliaries:
– MOD before PERF before PROG before PASS before
Lexical V.

14. 2.2 AUXILIARY VPs
• Where auxiliaries fit in the structure of VP
– Each auxiliary verb is the head of its VP and takes a VP
complement.

15. 2.2 AUXILIARY VPs
• Auxiliary VPs and adverbials
– Assumption 1. If an adverbial precedes a verb, assume it
modifies the following VP.

16. 2.2 AUXILIARY VPs
• Auxiliary VPs and adverbials
– Assumption 2. Assume that sentence-final adverbials
modify (and form a VP constituent with) the lexical VP.
One exception to
Assumption 2: TIME
ADVERBIALS

17. 2.2 AUXILIARY VPs
• Auxiliary VPs and adverbials
– Kim and Peter are going to India next week now.

18. 2.2 AUXILIARY VPs
• Passive Sentences
– Max was fired by the boss.
In passive sentences, a gap is
created in the object position left
by the movement of the object to
subject position.

19. 2.2 AUXILIARY VPs
• Passive Sentences
– Otto was driven mad by the noise.

20. 2.2 AUXILIARY VPs
• Passive Sentences
– With ditransitive verbs, it is always the first object that
becomes subject in the passive (leaving the other object
in position).
[82a] Max sent the boss an anonymous letter. (NP + NP: iO
+ dO)
=> [82b] The boss was sent (•) an anonymous letter.
[83a] Max sent an anonymous letter to the boss. (NP + PP:
dO + iO)
=> [83b] An anonymous letter was sent (•) to the boss.

21. 2.2 AUXILIARY VPs
• Negative sentences and auxiliary do
– The negative particle not is placed immediately after the
tensed auxiliary.

22. 2.2 AUXILIARY VPs
• Questions — fronting the tensed auxiliary
C: Complementiser
The Complementiser is sister of
S and daughter of S’

23. 2.2 AUXILIARY VPs
• Questions — fronting the tensed auxiliary

24. 2.2 AUXILIARY VPs
• More on have and be
– have can behave like an auxiliary or like a lexical verb
even when it is functioning as a lexical verb. All the
following are grammatical:
– Functioning as a lexical verb, behaving like a lexical verb:
[99a] Do we have any garlic?
[99b] We don’t have any garlic.
– Functioning as a lexical verb, behaving like an auxiliary:
[100a] Have we any garlic?
[100b] We haven’t any garlic.

25. 2.2 AUXILIARY VPs
• More on have and be
– Be is more regular in its irregularity: it always behaves
like an auxiliary – whether functioning as auxiliary or
lexical.
[101a] Was Kubla extravagant?
[101b] Kubla wasn’t extravagant.